Double Bass Help identifying these strings

[AGCurry]

I have this set on my strings shelf. I thought for a long time that they were Kaplans, but according to Gollihur's wonderful string-identification page, they are not. The tailpiece ends have "0" stamped on one side and 1,2,3, or 4 on the other side. Foundation silk at the tailpiece is silverish, with dark purple threads over it.

 

[Eli Brockway]

Something from Pirastro? My initial thought was Original Flat-Chromes but the silk is more blue than purple I think.

Although they do list it as purple, so it might just be different cameras and color correction and all that nonsense.

 

[bass player 53]

Some type of helicore string?

 

[Stuart.C]

I guess Kolstein heritage

 

[AGCurry]

Something from Pirastro? My initial thought was Original Flat-Chromes but the silk is more blue than purple I think.

Although they do list it as purple, so it might just be different cameras and color correction and all that nonsense.

Here's a picture I just took of an Original-Flat-Chrome E (top) and the E from this set (bottom). Note the silk differences and the quite-different ball ends:

 

[Eli Brockway]

Silks seem similar to Kolstein Heritage from what I remember, but the ball ends look wrong. The Pirastros were the only ones I could think of after the D'addarios that have that flat cylinder of a ball end, but Kaplans should be brass ends and then black silks rather than purple like you already know. Unless they had something different at one point, which I wouldn't know.

 

[jmpiwonka]

Doesn't Pirastro use different color silks for each string at the pegbox end for most sets?

 

[Francois Blais]

If I'm not mistaken, these are vintage Pirastro Eudoxa steels. (yes, besides gut core Eudoxas, they had a steel variant)
These were the top of the line Pirastro steel bass line at the time.
The balls were silvery and stamped like today's T-I balls.
There was also a thin wire threading over the silk at the peg end.

 

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

As usual, Francois is correct.

 

[Eli Brockway]

I didn't want to make that guess because the last time I remember that topic coming up, the string that got pictured was just a flat chromesteel that was found in a Eudoxa sleeve. Glad to know my initial thought of something-Pirastro was in the right area, at least.

What's the plan for them, Andy? Back on the shelf now that you know what they are, or were you thinking to use them?

 

[AGCurry]

What's the plan for them, Andy? Back on the shelf now that you know what they are, or were you thinking to use them?

They've been sitting for at least a couple of years, and they'll continue to do so until I get a wild hair. It must be that I forgot buying them, probably from eBay.

I have a more urgent-but-first-world problem: My old dog had surgery last week, and not spatially comfortable in her cone, she knocked over my "jazz" bass, which landed on my orchestra bass and caused a crack in its top plate. So it's off to the luthier.